ABOUT EMERALD CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Emerald Christian Fellowship is part of a broader movement, entitled Restoration Fellowship’s International (RFI). RFI is made up of many Christians across Australia and abroad who have joined in one heart to pray and believe for the restoration of the body of Christ, as is prophesied in the book of Revelation.
DAILY DEVOTIONS
The love of the Father
As we believe for sonship, the Holy Spirit adopts us, making us children of God and delivering to us the free gift of righteousness. Rom 5:17. By the Spirit of adoption, we are able to call God, ‘our Father’. Rom 8:15. In response to our cry, ‘Abba! Father!’, the Spirit of Christ, which is the divine nature, is sent by the Father into our spirit (Greek: pneuma). In this regard, we could liken our spirit to ‘an egg’, and the Spirit of Christ to be the Seed of the Father. This Seed is germinated in our spirit by the Holy Spirit, and we are conceived as a son of God in the womb of the virgin bride of Christ, the church. When this conception has happened, we receive a new and unique name as a son of God and Christ has become our life. Gal 2:20.
Like any conception, our spirit, or identity, has been reborn as a son of God who can uniquely express the life of God. Our identity is not lost through this conception. We are born of the divine nature and have become a totally new creation as a ‘zoe-fied’ identity. That is, the zoe life of God has caused a change in our spirit (pneuma). As a consequence, we are substantively different from the ‘first Adam’, referring to those who still belong to the first creation. This reality was expressed by the apostle John, who declared, ‘Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.’ 1Jn 3:1.
After we are born again as a son of God, the Father then places us into the church, by making us a member of the body of Christ. Col 1:18. This is the first dimension of baptism. The body of Christ is the context where we are to grow and mature as Christians. 1Jn 4:7-21.
1 John 3
Rom 5:17
For if by the one man’s offence death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Rom 8:15
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’
Gal 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
1Jn 3:1
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Col 1:18
And He is the Head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the pre-eminence.
1Jn 4:7-21
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgement; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Please fill out the form below to subscribe to our daily email devotions.
First Name *
Last Name *
Email Address *
* Required Field